


you're my angel(fish)

by thunderylee



Category: NewS (Band)
Genre: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Canon Universe, Gen, Probably Crack, green mums mean ilu, i wrote this before openrec, idk how voice chat works, implications of current events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: NEWS play ACNH.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	you're my angel(fish)

**Author's Note:**

> i should apologize, but i'm not that sorry.

“ _Fucking_ bass,” Shige grumbles. “It’s _raining_ , and all I catch are bass.”

“I thought this game was supposed to be relaxing,” Massu points out as he runs around Shige’s perfectly terraformed island looking for bugs.

“It _is_ relaxing,” Koyama points out. “Shige just gets angry a lot.”

“I do _not_ —” Shige gets cut off as Massu’s screen flashes the arrival of a new visitor. “How did Tegoshi get my dodo code?”

“I gave it to him,” Koyama answers. “Did you not want him to visit?”

“No!” Shige exclaims. “The last time he visited, he chopped down half of my trees.”

“You had too many,” Tegoshi points out through his mouthful of whatever he’s eating as he joins their voice chat. “I did you a favor. Nobody needs that much wood every day.”

“I have a _system_ ,” Shige grumbles. “You fucked up my system.”

“I brought you a present, you ungrateful bitch,” Tegoshi says sweetly.

“Ooh, I want to see,” Koyama says, then squeals, “Ah, Tegoshi’s so cute today! That dress really suits you.”

“Right?” Tegoshi replies, and Massu reaches them just in time to see Tegoshi’s avatar making the happy reaction and twirling in his cherry dress. He’s also wearing a princess tiara with long blonde hair. “Oh, hi, Massu.”

“Hey,” Massu says. “Is that a green mum?”

“Yup!” Tegoshi replies proudly, twirling around again in front of the plant he had just placed on the ground. “I bred it just for Shige. Because it’s his member color.”

“I’m jealous,” Massu pouts, thinking of his fields of color-coordinated flowers. “I don’t have a green one yet.”

“I’ll bring you one next!” Tegoshi offers. “I have a bunch of them.”

“Of course you do,” Shige mutters. “Thank you, Tegoshi.”

Shige’s avatar joins the rest of them in front of the airport, still holding his fishing pole, and it’s such a nice sight that Massu snaps a picture on his switch. It’s not often that the four of them are online at the same time, let alone willing to congregate on one island. Shige gets restless and renovates his entire island at least once a week, Tegoshi’s clearing out deserted islands in hopes of catching scorpions, and Massu spends most of his time in the designer app recreating their concert merch. His avatar is sporting a Neverland T-shirt today.

Koyama’s the one who usually keeps his gates open while he crafts and talks to his villagers, though he’ll jump to fly over whenever he sees one of the others online. Tegoshi humors him the most, but Massu suspects that’s only because Koyama waters his flowers and pays off his bridges and inclines. Most of Tegoshi’s house is furnished with items Koyama had crafted or gifted him, including the tiara he’s wearing right now.

Massu hasn’t done much with his own island, just followed the story progression and built a couple bridges. He hasn’t managed to pay off his first house expansion yet, though it’s rather empty since nothing he gets from balloons or sees in stores seems to match. A couple of his villagers have moved out from neglect, but new ones replaced them. Massu doesn’t see much point in talking to them unless they’re crafting something. Mostly, they just get in his way.

He’d only bought the game to hang out with the other members while they can’t physically be together. A couple of his friends play too, as well as his sister, but he doesn’t spend nearly as much time at their islands as he does with these guys. Koyama’s managed to develop his island a little bit, while Tegoshi’s is a big mess but somehow still has a five-star rating.

Massu finds himself swaying on the screen alone the next time he looks up, the other three having scattered off for various parts of Shige’s island. Shige seems to be giving a virtual tour of his latest renovation, which only Koyama is responding to, and Tegoshi probably has his mic on mute. Massu returns to chasing bugs in the rain, being careful not to run through the flowers.

He finds Tegoshi’s avatar on the beach, tossing fish bait into the water until he lures something big. Massu watches as Tegoshi expertly throws the line right in front of the fish, ready with his clapping reaction for whatever Tegoshi’s about to catch.

It’s a coelacanth.

“HA!” Tegoshi explodes in all of their ears, making Massu jump despite knowing something like this was coming. “I caught the rain fish!”

“Seriously?!” Shige whines.

“Yay, Tego!” Koyama cheers.

Massu’s avatar claps enthusiastically.

Tegoshi instantly runs away, and a few seconds later Shige’s huffing again. “You don’t have to flaunt it.”

“Look at my rain fish~” Tegoshi booms in his announcer voice, and Massu finds Tegoshi following Shige around the town square to show him the coelacanth over and over again.

Shige’s avatar brandishes an axe and swings it at Tegoshi.

“Now, that was unnecessary,” Tegoshi says in his usual voice.

“It’s so pretty,” Koyama says, his avatar in constant happy reaction whenever any of the other members are around. “I wish you could keep them as pets.”

“Hell no, this is worth 15,000 bells,” Tegoshi tells him. “CJ’s on my island today. I’m gonna stock up and get rich.”

“What do you even do with all your bells?” Shige asks. “I’ve seen your island. It’s trash.”

“You’re trash,” Tegoshi shoots back. “I have to fund my exquisite taste, you know.”

“Koyama pays for everything!” Shige practically yells.

“Are we talking about real life, or the game?” Massu interjects, and Tegoshi laughs.

“I send Shige gifts too,” Koyama points out. “Most of his I craft, so they are made with love.”

“I don’t need those things!” Shige exclaims. “I usually give them to my villagers.”

Koyama makes a noise that breaks Massu’s heart, then his avatar runs away. Shige races after him and Massu follows out of morbid curiosity, though he’s pretty sure they’re both surprised when Koyama wields an axe and starts chopping down the nearest tree.

“Koyama, what are you doing?!” Shige screams.

Tegoshi bursts out laughing while his avatar makes the happy reaction.

The tree falls down, and Massu’s switch instantly goes black. The message that he’s being sent home flashes on his screen, then he’s standing in front of his own airport. Shige must have turned off his switch to kick them off his island, probably to keep Koyama from chopping down his trees. Massu just shakes his head as he returns to catching bugs, now with more rustic scenery, at least until his phone beeps at him.

It’s from Shige with another dodo code. _You can come back if you want. Just you._

Massu feels warm for reasons he doesn’t quite understand and returns to the airport, where he plugs in the code and waits to return to Tuberose Island. When he gets there, Shige makes the happy reaction and they both turn on the voice chat.

“Have you seen my house lately?” Shige greets him.

“I don’t think so,” Massu answers.

“Come see.”

Massu follows Shige to the very back corner of the island, where he has his house hidden by a forest of trees. Inside, the decor is dark and homey, much like Shige’s real apartment, and Massu amuses himself by turning the vacuum cleaner on and off while Shige’s hearty laugh tickles his ears.

“I have an extra one, if you want it,” Shige offers, and Massu rushes to accept. “I’ll put it outside. Look around the rest of the rooms!”

Shige’s excitement is contagious, leading Massu to seek out the remaining five rooms and play with all of the activities that allow it. There is a kitchen, a bathroom, and a study on the first floor, then a bedroom upstairs and a basement that contains a bunch of music equipment.

“If only this were real,” Massu mutters, and Shige grunts in agreement.

Outside, Massu picks up the green leaf Shige had left for him and finds Shige's avatar sitting on the swinging bench that doesn’t actually swing. Massu joins him, the pair of them sitting in silence while the rain makes the flowers around them sparkle.

“I miss you,” Massu blurts out, because it’s what’s weighing on his heart and it needs to come out.

Shige inhales deeply. “Me too.”

Massu’s phone goes off then, effectively ruining whatever this moment is, and Massu snorts when he reads the message. “Koyama says he’s sorry and he’ll bring you a whatever kind of tree it was to make up for it.”

“Tell him to pay off my incline and I’ll think about it,” Shige replies.

“Tell him yourself!” Massu exclaims.

Shige sighs and his avatar picks up his phone. A few moments later, the arrival message is flashing across the screen again, then _again_ as Tegoshi flies in right after Koyama.

“I don’t know why you bother with dodo codes when you can just open your damn gates,” Tegoshi’s saying the instant he’s on the call. “Where are you, anyway?”

“At my house,” Shige answers.

“I put the tree back,” Koyama says sadly. “I’m really sorry, Shige.”

“There’s an incline over to the right that could use financing,” Shige tells him pointedly.

“I’m on it!” Koyama cries out.

Tegoshi appears on Massu’s screen and spins around a few times, then makes the happy reaction. “Why are you two just sitting on the swing?” he asks, then gasps dramatically. “Are we interrupting something?”

“Shut up, stupid,” Shige says, and Massu laughs. “Come on, I’ve got a better place for us to sit.”

Both Massu and Tegoshi follow Shige through his maze of paths to a clearing by the beach, where there are several chairs surrounding a blazing campfire and a radio playing Bubblegum KK. Massu takes the lounge chair while Koyama and Tegoshi sit on the couch and Shige faces them in a regular chair.

“Now what?” Tegoshi asks, both his and Koyama’s happy reactions in sync.

“I wish this was real,” Koyama says in a small voice.

“Aw, Kei-chan.” Tegoshi hops off the couch and hits Koyama with the bug net. “We’ll see each other again soon. Just gotta wait a little longer, okay?”

Massu holds down the video recording button on his switch and hopes that he did it right. Maybe he’ll figure out how to upload it to his Jweb, or maybe he’ll just watch it and laugh.

They talk about various things, the somber mood inviting honest thoughts and worries, and Massu feels like a burden has been lifted off of him when they finally part for the evening.

On his way out, he notices where Shige had placed the green mum—in a row alongside a pink, purple, and yellow mum. Massu takes another picture and wishes he could turn screenshots into designs. He’ll just have to do it by hand.

Back at his own house, he places the vacuum cleaner Shige had given him and turns it on and off a few times. It’s strangely comforting.

His stores are closed and he’s not as excited about scorpions as Tegoshi is, so he just sits in the one chair he’d placed on his beach and listens to the waves crash. It’s not raining on Gyoza Island, clear skies and a bright moon making it even more peaceful. Then he hears a jingle sound and notices a streak across the sky. His first meteor shower.

He should open his gates and share with the other three, but Shige had said he was going to sleep and Tegoshi was hunting scorpions. Koyama would probably come, but Massu was concentrating to hit the right buttons to “catch” the stars and only ended up with four by the time he got tired of waiting around.

Four wishes for four members. He’s pretty sure they would all wish for the same thing at this point in time, so he feels comfortable making his wishes for them.

Soon, they won’t need a game console to be together.


End file.
